Early Experimental Preview of Career Concept

The only part where I beg to differ is always providing a vehicle. On one hand, I like the provided vehicles as, when you make a list of "proposed vehicles" for time attacks, AI races, and escapes, you get a sort of developer's anthology of Beam's most fun cars. On the other hand, I think getting rid of proposed cars, while either being stingy with race rewards or using non-racing missions as a money sink, could genuinely help to recreate the feeling of "maining" a single car that modern racing games miss. Forza & etc. lean way too hard into instant gratification, and you end up with so many cars you can't develop an attachment to any of them.

This could then be counter-counter-balanced by having repeatable races that you can earn money from over and over.

 

Hey devs do you think this will be released in the next few updates with how progress is going?

 

Me that grinded 50k in career mode:

 

Dont feel the need to rush, devs!

 

I can think of a way around that problem but it's probably not feasible at this point as it would require a storyline, much larger maps, and also a much longer list of events, which you then wouldn't have to complete 100% of to get the final race and ending.

 

I do feel like the current parts menu could use a work and inspiration from how Forza/GT7 ETC other games do it by splitting it into sections to make everything easier to find. A search bar would also be a nice addition

 

Overall I've had fun with the career mode so far until my save exploded leaving me in a blue void. Something about this save is definitely borked, I get the same error in console trying to load it in safe mode and I'm pretty sure I had my mods disabled until after the save combusted. I'll attach the save below; hopefully I can get it sent through the proper channels too.

Spoiler: example of the error:

*** FATAL LUA ERROR: [string "lua/ge/extensions/career/modules/quests/quest..."]:16: attempt to index a nil value
=============== Stack Traceback >> START >>
(1) Lua local 'func' at line 16 of chunk 'lua/ge/extensions/career/modules/quests/questTypes/reachBranchLevel.lua'
Local variables:
attributeName = nil
quests = table: 0x021636c0ab98 {1:table: 0x02162eb7d6b0, 2:table: 0x02162eb7cb50, 3:table: 0x02162eb78cd0 (more...)}
(for generator) = C function: builtin#6
(for state) = table: 0x021636c0ab98 {1:table: 0x02162eb7d6b0, 2:table: 0x02162eb7cb50, 3:table: 0x02162eb78cd0 (more...)}
(for control) = number: 3
_ = number: 3
quest = table: 0x02162eb78cd0 {description:TBD, id:/gameplay/quests/milestones/reachBranchLevel/008-specializedBranch3 (more...)}
currBranchId = string: "specialized"
branchInfo = table: 0x0216144da1e8 {description:ui.career.specialized.description, id:specialized, attributeOrder:300 (more...)}
currentXp = number: 1800
currLevel = number: 2
targetLevel = number: 3
minXp = number: 1500
(*temporary) = nil
(*temporary) = table: 0x0216144da1e8 {description:ui.career.specialized.description, id:specialized, attributeOrder:300 (more...)}
(*temporary) = number: 2
(*temporary) = number: -1
(*temporary) = nil
(*temporary) = table: 0x021613aa6d48 {1:table: 0x021613aa98f0, 2:table: 0x021613a9bfc8}
(*temporary) = number: 2
(*temporary) = number: -1
(*temporary) = string: "attempt to index a nil value"
(2) Lua field 'hook' at line 695 of chunk 'lua/common/extensions.lua'
Local variables:
funcName = string: "onUpdateProgress"
funcList = nil
hookFuncs = table: 0x0217b43470b8 {1:function: 0x02162ea85c50, 2:function: 0x02162ea8aa78, 3:function: 0x02162ea8eb68 (more...)}
(for generator) = C function: builtin#6
(for state) = table: 0x0217a36532b0 {1:table: 0x02164f42c978, 2:table: 0x021613aa4cc0, 3:table: 0x02164f39d6c8 (more...)}
(for control) = number: 94
_ = number: 94
m = table: 0x02162eab7040 {onPlayerAttributesChanged:function: 0x02162eab7658, __extensionPath__:career/modules/quests/questTypes/reachBranchLevel (more...)}
func = Lua function '?' (defined at line 5 of chunk lua/ge/extensions/career/modules/quests/questTypes/reachBranchLevel.lua)
(3) Lua field 'getUIFormattedQuests' at line 66 of chunk 'lua/ge/extensions/career/modules/questManager.lua'
Local variables:
list = table: 0x0217944ef920 {}
sortedKeys = table: 0x021736e49120 {1:/gameplay/quests/milestones/distanceDriven/001-drive5km, 2:/gameplay/quests/milestones/distanceDriven/002-drive100km (more...)}
(4) Lua upvalue 'getLogbook' at line 29 of chunk 'lua/ge/extensions/career/modules/logbook.lua'
Local variables:
ret = table: 0x021736e49500 {1:table: 0x02162eb93d90, 2:table: 0x02162eb93e20, 3:table: 0x02162eb94248 (more...)}
(*temporary) = C function: ipairs
(*temporary) = table: 0x02162eb93d20 {1:table: 0x02162eb93d90, 2:table: 0x02162eb93e20, 3:table: 0x02162eb94248 (more...)}
(5) Lua field 'getLogbookMostRecentUnread' at line 73 of chunk 'lua/ge/extensions/career/modules/logbook.lua'
Local variables:
limit = number: 3
ret = table: 0x021736e493a8 {}
byRead = table: 0x021736e493f0 {false:table: 0x021736e494b8, true:table: 0x021736e49438}
(*temporary) = C function: ipairs
(*temporary) = table: 0x021736e494b8 {}
(6) main chunk of line at line 1
--------------- << END <<

edit: happy to report that with the release of 0.30.1 i seem to have been released from my blue prison

I think my biggest complaint so far would have to be the drift missions and how the system currently in game really rewards starting and stopping a lot of smaller drifts to build combo which very much fails the eye test. (that and all the old configs with the weird drift tyre but judging from the bastion that's already being worked on)

also uh the mission "highway bend" isn't a highway bend anymore due to the map update and the only way to score points now is a small area where you can do donuts

 

Glad to see another big update for career mode! I'll probably do another one of my long-form critiques once I've fully completed this version of it. I did have issues with interacting with the dealerships and computers, and even after clearing my cache and verifying integrity, I'm still getting issues with those (and the career menu) not showing up properly. I may need to do a clean re-install to see if that fixes the issues.

Yeah, I really don't enjoy most of the drift missions. I think that the drift variants are also lacking steering angle to hold high-speed drifts for long enough, but I could be wrong.

Also, I'm a bit surprised the lemons dealership near the racetrack didn't get turned into an actual dealership in 0.30. That seems like it'd be a good place to get some real cheap vehicles - or perhaps scrap vehicles which you've wrecked.

And is it possible to acquire vehicles like the Aurata, Wydra, Dunekicker, Stambecco, and Rockbasher from the current dealer selection? I haven't seen any examples of these vehicles in the dealerships yet, so I presume no. And if there isn't a way to purchase these vehicles yet, why not? I get that WCA isn't the biggest off-road area and as of right now, there aren't that many off-road-oriented missions, but perhaps an off-road-oriented dealer could be added in the future? Or maybe turn the lemons dealer into where you get the cheap cars and Quarryside into an off-road store? I'm not sure.

 

This is the right approach. I personally am not interested in performing missions that are in no way related to my personal vehicle. If you look at the "CARP" modification, the idea is very good, this is what draws you into the gameplay! the player should have a choice whether he builds a racing car to complete the corresponding tasks, or buys and improves a truck for transporting goods) because this is much more interesting than your initial idea of “tasks that have nothing to do with your car”

The feeling of progress is the most important thing in the game. do you agree with me?)

It’s much more interesting to buy for the last money an old, broken “Autobello Piccolina” that can’t even drive up a mountain due to lack of power or engine overheating, and if it comes with a trailer... then that’s another task) and then the player saves money bit by bit and assembles the car of his dreams in parts, he gets the opportunity to perform more and more complex tasks, after which he buys an SUV and starts investing money in it to experience a new experience

And the most important thing in all this, which I experienced in my own experience, is that you begin to recognize the car from those sides that you had not thought about before, feel and appreciate, because a lot of effort was invested in it. And if you give the player “Civetta Scintilla” after 15 minutes of the game, then the performance will drop.. motivation disappears, a person becomes bored and sad..

And now about the training and the first minutes of the game: you are great, the training is not tiring, it is simple and unobtrusive, the logic of everything that happens is intuitive, you went to the store, bought a car, drove into the garage and you start creating)

In all this, what annoyed me the most when I got out of the car was that sometimes the button gets stuck and your “character” starts walking somewhere, sometimes backwards or sideways (the BUG is apparently old, I do not know how to reproduce it, but I encounter with her quite often.

After updating the map WCU, I noticed a strong load on the CPU, somewhere around 20-25%, which together with traffic is very slow performance.... there can't be such a slump from adding an island, there is definitely a bug somewhere....

 

unrelated to everything, but there isnt a way to change the colour of your car right? or am i just stupid

 

Im loving the latest update to career mode, especially how quick and easy the tutorial is. One thing i do wonder about is being provided a vehicle for every cargo mission. Is there any plans for letting you use your own vehicles for the cargo missions? Maybe a cargo system similar to that found in Mudrunner/Snowrunner.
Do love the little details and lore bits added!

 

With the part inventory system will it be possible to put parts from one car onto another? If that is the case will it be limited to just parts that are compatible, for example take an engine from a Wendover and putting it into a Lansdale, or will it be possible to put any engine you want into any engine bay that fits it? I would personally love putting the Gavril diesel V8 into cars that definetly shouldnt have it.